OUTLAWING DRUGS AIDS TERRORISTS ALSO

The U.S. government has become accustomed to orchestrating world events to
fit its agenda. In our name, the government keeps troops in over half the
countries of the globe, supports brutal regimes and uses intelligence
agencies to manipulate policies of foreign governments. Still, it is in the
"War on Drugs" that the US excels in showing how poorly equipped it is as
director of international affairs.

Since the 1970s, administrations have sought to enlist nations in its jihad
against popular recreational drugs. The results have often been corruption
of police, judges and politicians; gang wars and drive-by shootings; and an
increase in drug use. Yet America's "War on Drugs" escapes the shame of one
horrific consequence: the destruction of thousands of lives. The drug war
has lead to the expansion of terrorist groups, even the one responsible for
the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Sadly, the government feeds the mouth that
bites us.

"Narco-terrorist" organizations are a conglomeration of leftist rebels,
terrorist rings, arms dealers and drug cartels. In "Beyond the War on
Drugs: Overcoming a Failed Public Policy," Steven Wisotsky wrote that "the
War on Drugs has seriously undermined the power and stability of the
central governments (of Peru and Colombia), delivering effectual control of
large regions to alliances of drug traffickers and guerrilla armies." In
short, to terrorists.

How is this possible? Thanks to massive profits from drug trade,
narco-terrorists are able to buy control of anything they need. In the
regions where they rule, they serve as the de facto government, supplying
schools, sports teams and security. With the support of farmers, they grow
coca and opium with impunity, raise money to finance activities and create
conditions for international cooperation with other terrorist groups.

The connection between drugs and terrorism is not exactly the world's
best-kept secret. In a March 2002 statement before the Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government, Sen. Jon Kyl of
Arizona reported that "opium production in Afghanistan (under the Taliban)
accounted for 72 percent of production worldwide" and was used to "shelter
Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida terrorists." He also said that bin Laden
"provided protection to heroin processing labs, was a part owner in
numerous labs (and) part owner of one load shipped to the U.S."

Even a casual knowledge of economics is enough to understand that the drug
war is its greatest boon. Any effect that limiting the supply of a drug
might have will be to raise the price it brings on the market even further,
meaning larger profits to those who deal drugs. And this means more money
for terrorism.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy admitted the effect of its
policies by broadcasting advertisements telling people who use drugs that
they are supporting terrorism. If helping to put money in the pockets of
drug dealers is akin to aiding terrorist causes, then the U.S. is the
biggest supporter of terrorism in the world.

The "war on drugs" might go down as the worst policy blunder in American
history. The cost in lives, dollars, the erosion of our social and moral
fabric and the impact on law enforcement and political institutions might
never be fully known. Adding insult to injury, in the years that our
government has been battling to make people stop using drugs, it has been
helping to enrich those who wish to fight terrorist wars.